AT&T raises LTE throttling threshold to 22 gigabytes

AT&T has changed its throttling policy and now subscribers on an unlimited plan will be throttled once they've used 22GB of data within a single month. After that, users will see slower speeds in congested areas, with the degree of throttling depending on the amount of congestion. Users will also get a warning when they reach 75 percent of 22GB, or 16.5GB.

This is a big change for customers still using AT&T's unlimited data plan. Previously, the company began slowing service for customers who used more than 4 gigabytes or 5 gigabytes of data.

The change in the rules is probably AT&T's response to legal actions by both the Federal Communications Commission and the Federal Trade Commission. The FCC accused the company of using misleading statements about its unlimited plans and wanted to charge it a $100 million fine. The FTC is suing for similar reasons, and if successful, some of the damages should be returned to affected AT&T customers.

AT&T has been offering unlimited data plans since 2007, and in 2010 it stopped offering them to new customers. Still the company has allowed existing customers to keep their unlimited plans. But in 2011, it began a policy through which it would limit the speed of the service when customers reached a certain threshold of usage.